criticism

Dec

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CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who not only won NaNoWriMo but who made ANY progress this month. I finished with 32,000 new words, and I’m really proud of that progress! New words are always better than no words at all. 😉

To wrap up NaNoWriMo and to help all of you forge onward with your new manuscripts, I wanted to share all the posts I’ve ever written about revising a novel, finding a literary agent, and getting traditionally published.

Sixteen-year-old Nile coasts through life in Camp Hope, the interim community built by the survivors of a massive climate shift. He’s almost finished with career training and head over heels for his girlfriend. Life is good. (Read more…)

May

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♥ Time for some community feedback! ♥

MaryAnn Kempher is the second lucky “winner” from May’s Query Day, and so her shiny, revised query is now ready for some group feedback!

As always, be HELPFUL, be gentle, and leave your comments below.

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Dear Agent,

I believe my book and what you are currently looking for may be a perfect match because <insert reason why>. THIS YEAR SUCKS has 60,000 words and is romantic suspense.

If not for a sleepless night and an empty pantry, Katherine might never have seen a killer and his victim. She didn’t get a good look at him, but he doesn’t know that. Now she’s a hunted woman. (Read more…)

May

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♥ Time for some community feedback! ♥

Jeanmarie Anaya is the first lucky “winner” from May’s Query Day, and so her shiny, revised query is now ready for some group feedback!

As always, be HELPFUL, be gentle, and leave your comments below.

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Dear __________:

I enjoyed hearing you speak at the Backspace Agent-Author Seminar in November on the topic of recent trends in the YA market. You mentioned you were interested in paranormal YA. I hope my novel, MAGNETIC, will fit your list. (Read more…)

Apr

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♥ Time for some community feedback! ♥

Taryn Albright was the lucky “winner” from April’s Query Day, and so her shiny, revised query is now ready for some group feedback!

As always, be HELPFUL, be gentle, and leave your comments below.

~~~

Dear Awesome Agent,

When humanity learns its writers can create, or “Animate,” their own worlds, people have the final nail in the coffin of religion. God is now dead, but not everyone is happy about that.

For most of her life, sixteen-year-old Kalyn has had one goal: become the thirteenth Animator, one of the revered people who can Animate their written works. When her brother gets that distinction first, she finds herself breaking away from the conventional aversion to religion and instead befriending a girl who has religious sympathies. (Read more…)

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Mar

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♥ Time for some community feedback! ♥

Yahong Chi was the lucky second “winner” from March’s Query Day, and so her shiny, revised query is now ready for some group feedback!

As always, be HELPFUL, be gentle, and leave your comments below.

~~~

Dear [agent]:

Fourteen-year-old Georgia Castleforté knows the secrets dreams can yield. How could she not, with renowned shrinks as parents? But for Georgia to dream up a long-lost brother, now that’s pretty major; even more so when her parents brush her off and don’t even pull her into one of their “dream interpretation” sessions. Something’s up. Georgia’s determined to figure out if she actually does have a brother and, more importantly, why her parents wouldn’t want her to know.

But when the clues in her dream world show Georgia that her parents sacrificed her brother in a deal for something more dear to them than a human being, her beliefs and family foundations blow up beneath her. (Read more…)

Speak up:

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Mar

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Query Critique Week was such a huge success (I can’t even count how many people have emailed me saying they had full requests! YAAAAY!!), and I’ve received so many emails asking when it would happen again, I’ve decided to make it more of a regular thing…

Now, I can’t manage the same scale of queries I handled in January, but I CAN manage a handful each month. And so I’d like to introduce you to…